A United Nations hero from Bradford has told the Telegraph & Argus how he ignored the risk to his own life to smuggle 30 East Timorese people to safety.

The T&A revealed earlier this week how Major John Petrie made four trips through militia roadblocks and Indonesian army checkpoints with pro-independence supporters hidden under water cartons in his vehicle.

The former head boy of Belle Vue Grammar School in Bradford, whose father Kenneth lives in West Bowling, is now a military police officer working for the United Nations Mission in East Timor.

Major Petrie contacted the T&A by satellite telephone from East Timor.

He described the moment when a little girl hidden behind the driver's seat of the Land Rover began to whimper after they were stopped by armed militia men and he turned up the volume of Vivaldi's Four Seasons playing on the vehicle stereo.

He said: "That was a particularly dodgy moment because if they had got one inkling of what we were doing we would have been in trouble. They would have killed us.

"At the time, there was no question of what we had to do.

"We had got to know these people - they were our friends. The risk we took dawned on us later."

Major Petrie, 40, who now lives in London with his wife Jo and sons Harry, 10, and nine-year-old Guy, joined the army in 1986 and has served in Northern Ireland, the Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo.

"Up until about a week ago it was very dangerous here," he said.

"It was worse than Kosovo and Bosnia but it's a lot calmer now international forces are arriving."

He added: "Today we've been to a place called Los Palos in the east of the country.

"We've been escorting a humanitarian convoy to deliver aid to some of the particularly damaged parts and that's pretty much what we'll be doing for the next few days."

Kenneth Petrie, 74, said: "I feel very proud but concerned for him."

Mr Petrie and the rest of the family are looking forward to seeing Major Petrie home safe and sound. He is due back in the UK at the end of November.

Before joining the army Major Petrie served in the RAF and civilian police and worked for the Abbey National.

His sister Elizabeth Hartshorne is a nurse at Bradford Royal Infirmary. His mother, Audrey, died in 1985.

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